Rectory Lane Cemetery, Three Close Lane, Berkhamsted HP4 2DH
www.rectorylanecemetery.org.uk | | | A belated Happy New Year from us - just managing to squeak into January - and with some of our work parties rained off this month it feels a bit of a slow start to 2026. Nevermind, that will all change! We will be holding our usual family-friendly events in April and June, plus heritage tours later in the year. We are also participating in an exciting Berkhamsted-wide initiative which we'll be able to share news about in our March ebulletin, if not before.
We hope to be recruiting more work party members and grave gardeners to boost our numbers. | | Speaking of which, we finally received our trophy from Green Flag for the Best of the Best: Volunteer Team of the Year award.
This award recognises the hard work and dedication of all our volunteers: weekly and monthly work party members, mowers, grave gardeners, genealogy researchers, fundraisers, guides, event hosts, website manager, project manager, bee keepers .... Some work individually, on site or at home - each is contributing to the success of the cemetery as a beautiful community space. It sounds like we have a lot of people but we really do achieve a lot with a little, with some volunteers doubling up in their roles. Please do make 2026 the year that you come and join us - Spring and Summer in the Cemetery are absolutely glorious and it's a pleasure to work there and receive all the appreciation from the community. | | Why not join our Wednesday afternoon work parties (2 - 4pm) or our very small mowing team who organise their own rota during the week as needed, or adopt and garden a grave and contribute time and care whenever it suits.
If you're interested or know someone who might be, get in touch: team@rectorylanecemetery.org.uk | |  | | Heart-warming signs of spring in the Cemetery! | | Artisan and Makers Market
Sunday 8th March
09.30 - 15.30
Come along and support local creative people - their pitch fee goes to the Friends of St Peter's to help the Church and Rectory Lane Cemetery.
For more information or if you are interested in having a stall, go to:
https://www.berkhamstedartisanmarket.co.uk/ |  | | Rectory Lane Cemetery is a beautiful and accessible place for commemmoration and for the interment of ashes. Do think of the Cemetery when considering loved ones you have lost. We have a dedicated area bordered by flowering shrubs and looked after by our volunteers.
Providing this service helps to fund the future of the Cemetery.
For more information, follow this link: https://www.rectorylanecemetery.org.uk/sustain/memorialising/ | | | Who's buried here?
An important element of the 'Dead Space to Living Place' mission is to discover and celebrate those people who are buried in the cemetery, who had been largely forgotten - as time passed and the physical space became neglected.
Over 7,000 people are buried here and our dedicated small team of volunteer genealogists are painstakingly researching each person. The results are then uploaded to our website where everyone can read them. Sometimes relatives give us information and photographs to include, but often we are able to add to what they knew about their own family members! | | | BRUCE LEONARD BURGE
16/09/1895 –08/07/1992 Bruce Burge was born in Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). His mother was from Ceylon, his father from Lincolnshire. He was sent back to the UK to be schooled, and later achieved his Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) qualification as a probationary architect. His career was delayed by WWI where he served in Burma (now Myanmar), India and Afghanistan.
He designed the Dutch-style houses in the Bridgewater area of Berkhamsted, opposite the Castle. He lived the last fifty years of his life in Berkhamsted, a father of four children (including a daughter who died very young) and is buried with her and his wife. He was the last person to be buried in the Lower Cemetery. His gravestone, on the terrace, was designed by renowned German sculptor Ralph Beyer. | | | Can you help us?
Providing the service of ashes interment is just one way in which we are keeping the cemetery current for the local community. It's also a way of raising funds for the continuing maintenance of this space as we ask for a donation, in lieu of a fee, which would be payable to any commercial cemetery.
Finding the money necessary to pay contractors, our part-time ranger, repair and replace machinery, repair and deal with any damage to the three-acre site is an ongoing challenge for the charity.
If you'd like to help raise money to keep this award-winning community asset going - either personally, or through any association or organisation you're part of, please do get in touch. There are many ways we can collaborate or facilitate sponsorship of different aspects of the project.
Thank you. | | | | | |
